Mario Lopez

Class of 2028

In today's blog, I want to talk about some of the house-sponsored activities at Dartmouth. Dartmouth Housing Communities often offer their residents several opportunities to bond with their house neighbors through trips and activities throughout the term. This term, my housing community, North Park, sponsored a trip to Boston, where about twenty students had the opportunity to spend an entire day there.

For the entire trip, North Park covered all expenses from travel to food. The trip started by leaving Hanover quite early in the morning to get a head start for the day. After around two hours on the road, we arrived at Boston South Station—one of the several locations where the Dartmouth Coach runs.

Image featuring a street in Boston. The image features several trees and buildings in the background. The trees are changing their foliage portraying several colors ranging from orange, yellow, and green.

One of the few sights we saw when we started exploring the city.

During the trip, all attendees had two options: explore the town on their own or stay together with the group and explore the town together. One could explore the town on one's own; however, those who wanted to explore on their own would have to cover their own expenses. On the other hand, staying with the North Park group would cover all ticket expenses, food, and transportation.

During the first stop of the trip, after making a quick stop at Chipotle, we ventured into a quack-mobile—a duck-shaped tour vehicle that drives tourists around key sights and places in Boston—for a tour of Downtown Boston. We saw several places, from Boston's Capitol to Boston's public garden. However, the most unique part of the tour was when the quack-mobile transformed into an aquatic quack-mobile.

Image featuring the inside of the quack-mobile. The image features the inside of a vehicle with several seats with people sitting on them. A tour guide can be seen speaking in the background.

The quack-mobile transformed from this:

Picture featuring the inside of the quack-mobile on the water. Several seats and people sitting on them can be seen. Outside the window, one can clearly see the vehicle gliding through one of Boston's rivers.

Into this: an aquatic tour vehicle!

After getting a tour of Boston's river, the group headed to Boston's harbor. On the walk, one could see several historic buildings and places, such as the pier where the Boston Tea Party took place!

At the harbor, all members of the group had the opportunity to explore the Boston Aquarium or keep on exploring downtown on their own. I decided to explore downtown a bit more, where I was able to see Boston's original town hall! (Fun fact: this is the place where the Declaration of Independence was read for the first time!)

After exploring downtown for a while longer and eating dinner—still paid for by North Park—the group started to head to Boston's South Station for the drive back to Dartmouth. Eventually, all attendees of the trip met up at the Boston Station, where we all rode the Dartmouth Coach and headed back to Campus.

Dartmouth Housing Communities offers several opportunities for all members of the community to bond together and explore different cities in the North East. This is only one of several trips that Dartmouth's housing communities offer. These trips range from outdoor trips, trips to amusement parks, trips to Boston, trips to Upper Valley attractions, or even overnight trips to New York City. Therefore, Dartmouth Housing Communities provides an invaluable opportunity to explore new places while bonding with your fellow housemates.

Until next time,

Mario

Posted 01/29/2025 at 9:00 AMAll Text Posts